I re-activated my Fiverr profile recently, excited to get back into the flow of freelancing. If I recall correctly, my last gigs took place in 2015, and Fiverr has undergone some significant changes since then.

One thing that caught my eye was the new Fiverr messaging system. I usually don’t appreciate my browser beeping at me whenever a notification comes in, as the mainstream computer behavior of notifications goes against the Ten Commands for a Digital Age.

I could have disabled browser notifications, but I didn’t want my Fiverr response time to suffer. 2 or 3 spam messages continued to come in every day. Luckily, Fiverr seems to ban these spammers quickly, but before that happens, I had to come up with a way to deal with the messages.

How do the spammers operate?

The scheme seems pretty consistent among the spam messages I receive. This may suggest a sole spammer at the helm of several throwaway spam accounts.

First, the spammer gets a conversation started. The initial message is simple– perfect bait.

Hi

Spammer

Legitimate customers are looking for a service, they usually get right to the point by asking a question about one of my gigs. This one-word introduction is without subject which makes it easy for the spammer to copy-paste to several Fiverr sellers.

I came up with a canned response that I could just copy-paste each time I got a message like this. My response works for just about any suspiciously simple greeting.

Thanks so much for your message! How can I help you today?

Chris Grimmett

Next, the spammer takes their sweet time. Hours will pass before they get back to you. My theory is that the spammer waits as long as possible before replying, because their next message is about to get them banned. They are simply waiting for more sellers to respond to their latest batch of, “Hi” messages, to maximize their potential victims.

If they don’t get banned right away by Fiverr’s Anti-SPAM measures, they will get back with their next juicy message.

I am very interested in your gigs. I have a project and you can get paid $150. but it requires a call. Can we have a call in $ky-pe? I will give details and explain in a call. my id is ******

Spammer

The oldest trick in the book is to replace words which Anti-SPAM systems will detect as spammy. In this case, “Skype” is clearly misspelled as $ky-pe to subvert such a system. Fiverr recommends that all communication between buyers and sellers takes place on their platform, so they are able to verify any written agreements in case of dispute. Red flag indeed.

The second red flag is that this user is waving $150 in front of my face. Most legitimate customers discuss gig details first. Third red flag– No gig details at all in this message. I have over 5 gigs with vastly different topics, and this user didn’t mention which gig they were interested in. This is a clear copy-paste spam message.

The first time I saw a message like this, I wasn’t sure what to do. Luckily, the user’s request came to me while I was asleep, so I simply awoke to an inbox showing the user in question was banned, and that it wouldn’t affect my response time. In the future, I know I can report this type of message.

This user got caught and was dealt with, but what about the future? These types of messages didn’t just stop.

My solution for dealing with SPAM on Fiverr

I decided the most logical thing to do was play along. If it ends up being a legitimate user who is bad at making introductions, I get a solid lead, and my response time improves. If it’s a spam user, I get them off my tail. Here’s what my Fiverr SPAM solution looks like.

Hello, How’s it going?

Suspicious Fiverr User

Again, my default response is my friendly canned message.

I’m great. Thanks so much for your message! How can I help you today?

Chris Grimmett

Eventually the suspicious Fiverr user gets back to me

Nice to meet you

I’d like to discuss my business plan with you

Suspicious +1 Fiverr User

I keep this ball rolling, knowing the spammer is wasting their time.

Excellent, I’d love to hear it.

Chris Grimmett

can we discuss it on hangouts or sky-pe?

Suspicious Fiverr User

The infamous misspelled Anti-SPAM trigger word. Spammer confirmed!

So that’s my solution to Fiverr SPAM. I simply offer my paid services based on their request. For some reason, they never got back to me! 😝😆😂

In this example, I wanted to send a custom offer quickly, so I chose one I had on hand. Since then, I have created a gig specifically for the purpose of getting Spammers off my back. I set the price point high enough to where they probably won’t buy it, especially out of spite.

I hope this article was helpful. If it was, let me know in the comments below.